Pupils rapped over drinking party

One pupil has been expelled from a top public school and 16 others suspended after a late-night drinking party that left one girl needing medical help.

The pupils at £20,000-a-year Canford School in Wimborne, Dorset, had sneaked out of their dormitories against school rules for the party on a golf course.

One girl was so drunk that two sixth-formers placed her fully-clothed in a shower before telling a housemaster.

The son of a Russian businessman was expelled, headmaster John Lever said.

Any school that doesn't think it has a problem with alcohol is deluding itself John Lever, headmaster

It had been the culmination of a series of incidents involving the 15-year-old, the school said.

Mr Lever said he took the action against the group, mostly aged 15, as a warning to other pupils at the school that drunken behaviour would not be tolerated.

He said: "These sanctions were part of an unequivocal message I have given to the school about the dangers of alcohol, the biggest danger faced by young people today.

"Any school that doesn't think it has a problem with alcohol is deluding itself."

He said only three of the pupils had been "particularly drunk".

Most pupils at the school were very hard-working, he said.

"Pupils at all schools like ours are keen to achieve all they can and take full advantage of their opportunities.

"They work extremely hard and I am very proud of them."